


Washed Clean

by DarthAbby



Series: Washed Clean 'Verse [1]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Language, Multi, Past Character Death, Student Ahsoka, Teacher Anakin, Teacher Obi-Wan, Thunderstorms
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-25
Updated: 2016-03-26
Packaged: 2018-05-16 07:00:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 17,172
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5818657
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarthAbby/pseuds/DarthAbby
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Pet-sitting for her favorite teacher over spring break? Check. Mysterious roommate begging to be found out? Check. Trapped over at said teacher's house during a massive storm? Check. Handsome neighbor? Check.</p><p>All in all, it's turning out to be a fairly busy week for Ahsoka.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

“Ahsoka, a word?”

At her favorite professor’s request, the junior held back as her classmates filed out, slowly packing up her things. As the last student trailed out, Ahsoka strolled up to the front desk.

“What’s up, Ben?” she asked with a smile.

Dr. Kenobi – _please, call me Ben, ‘Doctor’ is so stiff_ – smiled back. “What are your plans for spring break?”

She shrugged. “Nothing exciting. Job, homework, practice. Why?”

“I’ve planned a short vacation,” he explained, packing up his own papers. “Just seven days. However, I can’t bring my dog with me, and he hates kennels with a burning passion.”

“You want me to look after him?” she asked.

“If you could,” Ben nodded. “I’ll pay you, of course, and you don’t have to be there all day. He just needs fed, walked, and some attention while I’m away.”

“I can do that,” Ahsoka said, nodding eagerly. She’d always wanted a dog, but her mother was allergic, and her current apartment didn’t allow pets.

Ben gave her a relieved smile. “Thank you so much, that really takes a load off of my mind.” He grabbed his backpack and coat and they walked out together. “Normally I would ask my roommate to watch Jinn for me, but he’s also going out of town.”

Ahsoka nodded silently. She’d heard a number of grumbles about Ben’s anonymous roommate over the past years, though the doctor was careful to never tell his students any personal information about the other. She knew the roommate was messy, and loved to bother Ben while he was trying to grade papers (which is where most of the grumbles stemmed from), but nothing else.

“Speaking of,” he said thoughtfully, “I should probably warn you know that my roommate has two cats. They keep to themselves, generally, though the younger one likes to nap on top of my dog.”

Ahsoka giggled at the mental image. She knew that Ben owned a large Irish Setter – every few weeks, the desktop picture on Ben’s computer changed to a new image of Jinn, usually galloping happily and comically through a field or park.

“You won’t really have to do anything for them,” Ben continued. “They’ll probably stay in their owner’s room the whole time. Just keep the hall door to the bathroom closed so that Jinn can’t get at the litterbox.”

She nodded. “Sounds easy enough.”

He gave her another thankful smile. “Thank you, Ahsoka. I really appreciate it. Stop by on Friday afternoon, after your classes, and I’ll show you where everything is. I’ll text you the address.”

“Will do,” she promised easily. “I’ve got to get to my next class, Ben. See you Friday!”

He waved as she hurried off, feeling a great deal better now that he had secured help.

* * *

 

Ben was locked in a battle of wills when the doorbell rang on Friday. Having finished packing, he had made a sandwich. However, since both human occupants of the small house were leaving soon, the choices had been slim.

Peanut butter was Jinn’s most favorite thing in the whole wide world, except for maybe Ben himself. Usually he avoided making peanut butter sandwiches, just for this reason.

When the doorbell rang, Jinn barked once, but didn’t look away from Ben’s eyes.

“Come on in, Ahsoka!” he called, refusing to back down from the staring contest.

The door opened and Jinn quivered, torn between going to greet the new person and trying to use canine telekinesis to steal Ben’s sandwich.

“Hello?” Ahsoka called. Jinn’s ear twitched.

“Back here,” Ben replied. “In the kitchen.”

Neither party looked away as her footsteps came down the hall, or when she rounded the corner and stifled a giggle at the scene before her. Her favorite teacher in ratty jeans and an oversized university sweatshirt, locked in a staring contest with a large dog, who was using every millimeter of the puppy eyes he had been born with.

“Hi, Ben,” Ahsoka greeted, struggling not to laugh outright. “Hi, Jinn.”

The Irish Setter whined softly, tail wagging at the attention, but not about to back down.

“Good afternoon, Ahsoka,” Ben said. “I trust you found the place without much trouble?”

“Yeah, no problems at all.” Out of the corner of his eye, Ben saw her lean against the wall, content to watch the entertainment. “Doesn’t look like you can say the same.”

“It’s _my_ sandwich,” he defended. “But he’s under the impression that every jar of peanut butter and its contents belong only to him.”

“Why don’t you just eat the sandwich?”

“Because he’ll tackle me.” This lesson, unfortunately, had been learned from repeated experience, and no amount of training seemed to break his beloved dog of the horrible habit.

Ahsoka snickered. “I think you’re going about this all wrong.”

“Enlighten me, then.” He always encouraged different viewpoints, loved it when students engaged not only each other but also him in debate. One of the most frequent phrases heard in Ben Kenobi’s classroom was _prove me wrong_. Bonus points if you citied your sources.

Instead of speaking, Ahsoka stepped forward and grabbed the nearly empty jar of peanut butter off the counter. She scooped out a sizable glob with her fingers, and Jinn’s attention immediately shifted off of his owner and onto this new girl, who wasn’t telling him to sit or stay.

Nails clicked and scrabbled over the tile as the dog rushed over to lick Ahsoka’s fingers clean. Ben took a bite of his sandwich and nodded appreciatively at his student.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” she grinned. “Happy medium, right? Both of you get your peanut butter, and no one is mugged.”

Ben’s shoulders shook with laughter as he ate. “Fair enough.”

The human finished his snack much quicker than the dog, who seemed to have transferred most of the peanut butter from Ahsoka’s finger to the roof of his own mouth, and was now preoccupied with getting all of it off, smacking his jaws together every few seconds.

“Come on, I’ll show you around,” Ben said, gesturing for Ahsoka to follow him.

The kitchen was divided from the living room by a low half wall, which had a small table and two chairs set up next to it. The living room housed a couch and an armchair facing an old television set, as well as a Frankenstein cat tree. It appeared to have been assembled from about five or six different cat trees, held together with duct tape, string, and some discreet screws. Four doors branched off of the living room, two each on opposite walls.

The first door, closest to the kitchen, housed the pantry, where Jinn’s food was, as well as extra cat food.

“They’ve got enough food to last the week,” Ben assured her. “But just in case, it’s right here.”

The next door, on the same wall but on the other side of the TV, was Ben’s room.

“Just leave the door open,” he told her. “Jinn will probably spend most of the day in my bed when you aren’t here, and that’s where he sleeps.”

In the quick look she gave it, Ahsoka got the feeling that the room suited her teacher perfectly. Overflowing bookshelves on the side of the bed that she could see, and a simple dresser with a few small fencing trophies mixed in with stray pens, post-it notes, and cologne bottles.

“Over there,” Ben said, gesturing towards the door directly opposite his, “Is my roommate’s room. The cats are in there now. Next to it is the bathroom. There’s a door inside connecting the two so that the cats can get to the litterbox and their food and water, so they shouldn’t bother you.”

Ahsoka nodded. Even if they did decide to pay her a visit, she wouldn’t mind. She liked cats well enough, even though she was solidly more of a dog person.

“The backyard is fenced in,” Ben continued, moving towards the sliding glass door set in the wall opposite to the kitchen. “But I don’t let Jinn out alone. Setters are known to be fence-jumpers.”

“I believe it,” Ahsoka said, glancing over at the dog’s muscular hind legs. They looked more than capable of propelling him over the boundary.

“His leash and harness are hanging by the front door, if you want to take him on a walk. If you just want to play with him out back, there are a couple of tennis balls out there that he would be more than happy to show you.”

She smiled and nodded. “Sounds good. Anything else?”

“Not that I can think of,” Ben walked back into the kitchen, giving Jinn a quick pat on the head as he passed. “Emergency numbers are on the fridge – our usual vet, our neighbor, both cell phones just in case. I’m not sure how much those will be, though,” he admitted, “I’m going up into the mountains, so reception will be spotty at best, and my roommate is bouncing all over the continent. He actually left yesterday morning.”

“Okay,” Ahsoka said, looking over the list. She already had Ben’s number, but made a mental note to put the neighbors’ in later. It couldn’t hurt.

“I’m heading out this evening,” Ben explained. “I’ll make sure all the animals are settled for tonight, and you can come by sometime tomorrow morning. I should be back next Saturday, but I’ll let you know if anything changes. Any questions?”

“Nope,” Ahsoka smiled. “Have fun on your trip.”

He grinned as he walked her back to the front door. “Have fun with Jinn.”

* * *

It felt…weird, going back to the house the next morning, knowing that no one was home. Ahsoka double-checked the text Ben had sent before punching in the code for the garage door. _0212_.

Barking began immediately at the door to the house as the garage opened. Jinn appeared to have survived the first night alone no worse for the wear.

Ahsoka eyed the two vehicles in the garage as she walked through. A beautiful, shiny black motorcycle that she knew must belong to Ben, considering the number of times he had walked into early morning classes with his helmet still on. Parked next to it was an aggressively yellow old sports car – a Ford Mustang, if she wasn’t mistaken, probably from the 70’s. Must be the roommate’s, which meant someone had probably dropped both of them off at the airport. A washing machine and dryer were against the back wall, near the door, next to a few shelves crammed full of different mechanical parts.

Opening up the door was a vastly different experience from the day before. Without peanut butter to distract him, Jinn was very eager to greet his temporary caretaker.

“Whoa, okay get – get _off_ ,” Ahsoka said forcefully, pushing the excited dog down. “You’re way too big for jumping, buddy,” she informed him, pushing her way inside and closing the door. Undaunted, Jinn wound around her legs excitedly, tail wagging fast enough to create a breeze.

“I bet you’re hungry, huh?” she said, heading towards the kitchen. Apparently recognizing the word _hungry_ , Jinn started jumping around even more, practically herding her towards the pantry. “Alright, chill,” she laughed. “How about I let you out first, and then fix your breakfast?”

He seemed equally excited to get outside, nosing impatiently at the handle to the back door. She stepped out with him, remembering Ben’s words from yesterday. Jinn took a few laps around the yard, as though checking the perimeter.

He paused on the left side during his third lap, rearing up on his hind legs to see over the fence and giving a happy bark. Ahsoka was mildly surprised to hear an answering yip. The neighbors must also have a dog.

“Echo!” A man called from the other yard. “Fives! Come!”

She revised her assessment. Two dogs.

Jinn lingered by the fence until his friends went back into their own house, then turned his attention back to his own yard. After finally doing his business, Ahsoka ushered him back inside. It took only a few moments to dish up his kibble, and as he happily ate, she looked at the list of numbers on the fridge again, more closely.

The vet office was familiar – she passed by the Coruscant Veterinary Clinic on her way to work almost every day.

The neighbor was listed in Ben’s neat writing as _Cody Fett_. She wondered if he was the owner of Echo and Fives as she saved the number to her phone. Ben hadn’t specified what house belonged to his friend.

The last two numbers were unmarked, but she half recognized the first one. It must be Ben’s, which meant the second belonged to his mysterious roommate.

A cold nose nudged her leg and Ahsoka looked down with a smile. “Done eating already?”

Jinn woofed as though in reply, tail wagging. After notifying her, he strolled away to sniff at the plants. Hopefully he knew better than to eat them.

“Mrow?”

The unexpected noise caused Ahsoka to jump a little. Looking down, she found a small calico cat sitting behind her, tail neatly curled over its paws.

“Well hello, little one,” she said, crouching down and holding out her hand. The cat sniffed her fingers delicately, then rubbed up against them. Ahsoka smiled and rubbed the cat gently, using her other hand to check the small collar on its neck.

“Padmé, huh?” she read. “That’s a pretty name.”

Padmé mewed again, then stood and walked away, apparently satisfied with the attention she had gotten. Ahsoka expected her to head back to the other room, or even go bother Jinn, but the calico bypassed the dog and headed for the other side of the living room.

“Wait – no – that’s Ben’s room! He didn’t say you were allowed in there!”

As cats are wont to do, unfortunately, Padmé picked up speed as Ahsoka tried to catch her.

“Shit,” she groaned. She had planned on staying out of Ben’s room, out of respect to his privacy, but the way he had been talking the previous day, she got the feeling that the cats generally weren’t allowed in his room. She had to get Padmé out of there. “Sorry, Ben,” she muttered as she walked over.

Stepping into the room, she had to pause for a second and take back her thought from the previous day. The parts of the room she had briefly seen before were very in line with what she knew of her teacher but now, seeing the whole thing, she felt caught off-balance. There were the bookshelves and the disorganized dresser, yes, but on the other side of the room was a tall chest of drawers that seemed to be an affront to Ben’s usually perfectly put-together existence. Socks kept drawers from closing all the way, a dirty t-shirt hung by one sleeve off of a handle, and greasy fingerprints covered almost every inch of the wood. A small table shoved into the space between the corner and the chest of drawers was absolutely covered in what looked like technical drawings, on loose leaf notebook paper, on post-it notes, on grubby napkins, and a few actual, official-looking blueprints.

The bed itself was larger than she had thought it would be – king-sized. She had expected a full, or maybe even a queen, to accommodate both a fully grown man and his large dog, but a king seemed excessive. A scarred leather jacket was tossed casually on the far side of the bed, on the side she was beginning to suspect belonged to the roommate that was more than just a roommate, and Padmé was curled up on top of it.

“That’s not actually the other guy’s bedroom over there, is it?” she asked the cat. The look she got in return seemed to say _‘no shit, Sherlock’_. “And I suppose that means you have every right to be here.”

Padmé mewed at her again.

* * *

_ “Alert. There is a severe storm warning in effect immediately for the following areas...”  _

The automated warning played on the radio again as Ahsoka rushed over to Ben’s house. She didn’t pay attention to it, she already knew what it said. Coruscant was directly in the path of a huge thunderstorm, and warnings had been going out all afternoon to stay indoors until the storm passed completely, which was estimated to be sometime on Thursday. It was only Monday night, so she had decided that the best course of action would be to stay with her charges. Less risky than trying to drive over every day. Her boss had even closed down the restaurant in anticipation of the storm, telling everyone to stay safe and that he would contact them when it was okay to reopen. 

Stopping at a red light, Ahsoka ran over a mental list of everything in the back seat again. Enough clothes for a few days, toothbrush, phone charger, her favorite blanket, and a couple bags of food. Jinn had plenty of kibble left still, as did the cats, though Ahsoka wasn’t convinced there actually was another cat. Padmé had put in a few appearances over the past two and a half days, but the other cat was still secreted away in the other room whenever Ahsoka was around.

Her phone chimed as she pulled into the driveway. 

**FROM: Barriss Offee, 6:49 PM**   
_movie marathon while we wait out the storm? I have the complete set of Indiana Jones. Harrison Ford is Yum_

**FROM: Ahsoka Tano, 6:49 PM**   
_wish i could. im bunking down at ben’s place to take care of his dog_

**FROM: Barriss Offee, 6:49 PM**   
_oh yeah how’s that going?_

**FROM: Ahsoka Tano, 6:50 PM**   
_fine jinn is a sweetheart. the one cat is nice the other is elusive_

**FROM: Barriss Offee, 6:50 PM**   
_ben has cats?_

**FROM: Ahsoka Tano, 6:51 PM**  
_his “roomie” does_

She tucked her phone back into her pocket and got out to unload the car. Now used to her entrances, Jinn didn’t jump on her quite as much as the first morning, but that didn’t mean he stopped completely. It took a few minutes to navigate into the kitchen without tripping over the dog or dropping anything, but she managed. Setting everything down on the counter, she pulled her phone back out. 

**FROM: Barriss Offee, 6:51 PM**   
_“roomie”?_

** FROM: Ahsoka Tano, 6:55 PM** _   
about 80% sure they share a bed so… _

**FROM: Barriss Offee, 6:56 PM**   
_wow. do you know who said “roomie” is?_

**FROM: Ahsoka Tano, 6:56 PM**  
 _no and if i did i wouldn’t tell you_

**FROM: Barriss Offee, 6:57 PM**   
_ahsokaaaaaaaaa_

**FROM: Ahsoka Tano, 6:57 PM** _  
its none of my business and certainly none of yours, gossip girl_

**FROM: Barriss Offee, 6:57 PM**   
_:(_

Ahsoka laughed and set her phone down. Her friend meant well, but she liked gossip far too much to know what all Ahsoka had inadvertently discovered the past couple days. 

Like the fact that the roommate’s initials were A.S., if the small stash of candy bars in the pantry labeled _‘NOT YOURS – A.S.’_ meant anything. Or the fact that he was some sort of engineer or mechanic, which Ahsoka had gathered from the technical drawings and mechanical bits and bobs scattered everywhere around the house. 

She had entertained the thought for a moment yesterday that Ben’s roommate might be Professor Skywalker, the surly engineering teacher. His was the only class she had ever come close to dropping, during her first semester of her freshman year when she still wasn’t sure what to major in and was trying a bit of everything. Skywalker was rude, loud, pushy, and usually unimpressed. She had passed his intro class – barely – and proceeded to avoid the engineering department at all cost. This was hardly a problem anymore, considering that now that her declared major was social services, so she didn’t have any real need to visit the engineers. 

However, Skywalker couldn’t possibly be Ben’s roommate. He was much too brash and grumpy. Ahsoka had actually seen them arguing one time on campus – half the student body had.

* * *

“You’re being completely ridiculous –”

“ _I’m_ being ridiculous? You’re the one who gave me the go-ahead!”

“I did no such thing!”

Ahsoka looked up in interest at the very rare annoyance and frustration coloring her favorite teacher’s voice. Dr. Kenobi had apparently been walking past with another familiar face, Professor Skywalker, but had stopped walking nearby to argue with him.

It was a lovely day out, and like many of her classmates, Ahsoka had forsaken the library and her own room to do her homework out in the sunshine. Unfortunately, the storm clouds appeared to be rolling in anyways, at least metaphysically.

“You absolutely did!” Skywalker shot back.

“ _No_ ,” Ben said sternly. “I told you to _not_ use the aluminum rods.”

“I specifically remember you saying that it would be cheaper to use aluminum –”

“Cheaper does not usually mean safer! In fact, it usually means much _less safe_.”

“Look,” Skywalker snapped, “I handled it, okay? Everything is fine now.”

“I have nine stitches in my arm, that’s not _fine_.”

“But did you die?” Skywalker asked roughly.

“I died a little inside.”

“Kenobi…” he trailed off threateningly.

“Skywalker,” Ben returned hotly. They glared at each other for a long moment, unaware of the crowd of students that had gathered in the area.

“Might I ask what is going on here, gentlemen?”

Every person turned at the voice, finding the Dean of Students, Windu, making his way calmly through the crowd.

“Dean Windu,” Skywalker said, giving his boss a respectful nod.

“Nothing, Mace,” Ben said, on more familiar terms with the man. “Sorry for the disruption.”

He didn’t look very convinced, and the students got to watch him firmly but politely order the two to his office.

* * *

Thunder crashed outside and Ahsoka jumped, startled back out of her memories. Jinn whined lightly. The storm was nearly on top of them, but it hadn’t started raining yet.

“Come on,” she told him. “Better get out now and do your business while it’s still dry.”

The first drops started falling as they went back inside the house, thankfully just missing them. Ahsoka made a face as it rapidly turned into a downpour.

“I hope the power doesn’t go out,” she said worriedly. Jinn didn’t offer any reassurance, as expected.

Losing the electricity seemed to be a real fear, so Ahsoka stayed off her phone, hoping to preserve the battery. Unfortunately, she had forgotten to grab a book or something else to occupy her time, which left her with few options.

“Who needs this many remotes, anyways?” she grumbled some time later, throwing down the sixth remote back onto the coffee table. The TV remained stubbornly off. That left her with two options; borrow a book from Ben, or have a look around.

“Snooping is rude, Ahsoka,” she chided herself. “But looking for a book is perfectly legitimate.” And if she happened upon some more clues as to who Ben’s roommate was in the process, well, that was just fortuitous.

Wandering into the bedroom found Padmé in what was apparently her preferred spot, curled up on top of her owner’s jacket. Jinn padded after her curiously, but left Ahsoka’s side to go visit with the cat. The two were on good terms, so she didn’t worry about it.

Going to the bookshelves meant passing by Ben’s dresser. It wasn’t her fault that the mirror hanging above it had several pictures wedged into the frame. She didn’t have any real excuse for stopping and looking, though.

The first picture, at eye-level for Ben, was a faded picture of what had to be a younger version of the teacher. The young man had the same wide, dimpled smile and his eyes were lit with happiness. He was wearing a graduation cap and gown, standing next to a significantly taller man with a serene, but proud smile. Ben’s graduation day, though she couldn’t tell if it was from college or high school. He was young enough that it could be either, if he had attended graduation for his bachelor’s degree. She had no idea who the other man was either – father, uncle, favorite teacher, it was hard to say.

The next picture was easy to identify. Ben, a few years older, a few years more tired, but smiling and holding up a squirmy ginger puppy to the camera. Little Jinn was adorable, all too-big paws and lolling tongue. Ahsoka glanced over her shoulder to the grown dog behind her with a smile, a far cry from the blurry red shape in the picture.

Next, wedged securely into the bottom corner, a picture of a hilltop at sunset, greens and blues fading to purples against the fiery sky. Off to one side, only a few feet ahead of the photographer, was a figure half-turned towards them, smiling brightly but unidentifiable in the weird shadows the fading sunlight cast across their face. Ahsoka felt sure that it wasn’t Ben, but couldn’t tell more than that.

The fourth picture was a blurry mess, hard to make out, but supremely amusing. It seemed to be a snapshot of Jinn tackling someone to the ground in puppyish excitement, though he was fully grown in the picture. The person mid-fall was little more than a dark smear, but Ahsoka got the feeling it was the same person from the sunset picture. She also got the feeling that part of the reason the photo was so horrendously blurry was due to the photographer laughing so hard at the scene even as they captured it.

She couldn’t help but giggle at the next picture. Ben, fast asleep on the couch, one arm twisted awkwardly behind his head and Jinn splayed on top of him like a blanket. A glimpse of a now-familiar pattern behind his arm, tucked securely between the sleeping man and the couch cushions, had to be Padmé, napping with them. An unfamiliar hand had scrawled a few words across the bottom of the picture: _even the mighty Kenobi needs sleep on occasion_. She wondered if it might be a gentle reminder to her teacher that it was okay to relax. He certainly could overwork himself without a second thought, and more than once Ahsoka had found him trying to grade papers in his office while half-asleep, and had gently but firmly told him to go home.

The last picture was of a small group of graduates, their backs to the camera, showing off their decorated caps. One had written ‘Hi Mom’ in large, glittery, gold block letters, another had painted a target in what was presumably school colors, a third seemed to have dumped an entire crate of rainbow glitter on their cap, and the last had modified the idea of the first. ‘Hi Obi’ was written in neon blue, standing out in stark contrast to the black cap. It looked more recent than the other graduation picture, so Ahsoka doubted that Ben was one of the graduates. Maybe his roommate was one of the anonymous figures? Which one? She spared a brief thought to wondering who ‘Obi’ was, but decided it probably wasn’t important.

This was all just observation, of course. Not snooping or prying or anything. She was perfectly within her rights to observe her surroundings.

What she probably wasn’t supposed to do was take a look at the back of the pictures to see if there was any information.

The first picture, of Ben’s graduation, was labeled as _“Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan, high school graduation”_.

Obi-Wan? Ahsoka’s eyes flicked over to the other graduation picture, to the ‘Hi Obi’ cap. She returned the first picture to its spot and picked up the other.

_“Anakin and friends, college graduation”_. Was Anakin the one in the ‘Hi Obi’ cap? Confused, she replaced the picture and reached for the one of Ben with puppy Jinn.

_“Obi-Wan with his new puppy”_. Ben was Obi-Wan? Well, she certainly understood why he went by a different name – her own had been mangled so many times that sometimes she thought about changing it to something easier to read.

She paused over the sunset picture, then left it alone and moved to the blurry picture of Jinn tackling someone. _“Jinn and Anakin reunited”_. Anakin again.

The picture of Ben – Obi-Wan? – sleeping was clearly labeled on the front. That left only the sunset picture. It seemed personal, something that wouldn’t normally be shared, but Ahsoka was burning with curiosity.

“I really shouldn’t,” she murmured, already reaching for the picture. She had already looked at the others, after all, what harm could it be to do one more?

_“Sunset on Qui-Gon’s hill with Anakin”_. She didn’t fully understand the meaning behind the words, but felt the emotion behind them. Qui-Gon, the tall man in Ben’s graduation picture. He wasn’t in any of the other pictures and Ahsoka got the sinking feeling that he had passed away.

Thunder crashed overhead, almost deafeningly so, and Ahsoka jumped a mile. She hastily returned the photo to its spot and was about to go to the bookshelf when the world lit up in pure white for a brief moment before darkness covered everything. The power had gone out.

“Crap,” she muttered, instinctively reaching to steady herself on the dresser. She had a flashlight in her bag, but her bag was in the kitchen. She fervently hoped that all the animals stayed where they were and didn’t trip her up in the dark while she went to fetch it.

She took a few cautious steps towards the door, just getting to the living room when an unexpected noise reached her over the sounds of the storm.

The front door opening and closing.


	2. Chapter 2

Ahsoka stiffened, listening to the door closing, a few hesitant steps in the entrance. Something cold brushed against her hand and she flinched, but Jinn just whined up at her quietly.

“Stay,” she hissed sternly. The dog huffed out a breath but sat down obediently. For all his failings where peanut butter was concerned, Ben had trained his companion well.

She swallowed nervously and walked forward, pressing her back against the wall as she slipped into the living room. The room seemed oppressively dark without the ambient lighting no one ever noticed until it was gone – the soft glow from the clocks on the microwave and stove, standby and power lights on the TV and stereo, even the pinprick of light from the smoke detector would be appreciated. Between the storm raging outside and the power outage, Ahsoka could just barely make out the outlines of the furniture closest to her. Finding an intruder in the dark would be more than a little challenging.

A shuffling footstep, near the kitchen. She took a deep breath, trying to center herself, effortlessly recalling forms and movements so well-practiced that they were as much a part of herself as the tendons and ligaments needed to carry them out. Despite her long career as a martial artist, she’d never fought someone outside of a brightly lit ring, or at least a standardized practice area.

Another footstep, hesitant in its slowness but sure in its movement. Ahsoka reached over and gripped the edge of the partially open door behind her. If this was going to happen, she would prefer to do it without any sort of furry ‘helper’ underfoot.

The door snapping shut brought the intruder to a sudden stop.

“Who’s there?” A man’s voice, rough and accusatory. “Show yourself!”

Not likely. Ahsoka braced herself, ready to spring forward.

“I’m warning you!” the man threatened. “I’m armed!”

A long string of curses ran through Ahsoka’s head. A gun? A knife? A bat? What was the intruder carrying?

For a brief moment, she thought she saw a pair of yellow eyes watching her accusingly from above the door to the bathroom and her heart leapt into her throat. Before she could react any more than that, lightening cracked outside once more, and in the brief flash of brilliance, she saw the man, standing stiffly in front of the small table. His left hand was clenched tightly around something that certainly wasn’t a gun, though she had no idea what it might actually be.

Thunder crashed outside, leaving her ears ringing. Blinking away the afterimages left by the lightening, Ahsoka leapt forward, launching herself off the couch to tackle to intruder.

He shouted incoherently at the sudden attack, thrown backwards heavily by her momentum. She felt his shoulders smack painfully against one of the chairs and they both went down. She sprang up and away before he could recover, intending to go for his left hand and wrest the weapon away, but his reflexes were impressive enough that she was only able to knock it away and he rolled in the other direction, finding his feet with speed.

He lunged at her, trying for a traditional wrestling hold, and she slipped underneath his arms, roughly kicking at one of his shins to set him off-balance. He cursed lowly, turned the misstep into a pivot to face her again, trying for a swift undercut.

Unable to accurately judge movement and distance in the dark, Ahsoka didn’t move fast enough and his fist clipped her chin hard enough to make her stumble to the side, shaking her head in an attempt to clear away the sudden dizziness.

Lightening flashed again, making her head spike with pain, but she ignored it in favor of another tackle, sending them once more to the ground. Her shoulder collided painfully with one of the table legs as they landed, and it throbbed as she tried to pin her larger opponent.

He grunted and brought his legs up, flipping them with a suddenness that sent Ahsoka’s head spinning again. A small part of her wondered if she might throw up on the man, and if that might be enough to win the fight. Some people were horribly squeamish about vomit, after all, and there was a chance he was one of them.

“Stop it,” the man commanded, holding her down with a strength that she was too dizzy to fight. “Who are you?”

Still struggling, if only on sheer principle, Ahsoka glared up at him, though it was still too dark to make out anything of each other. “Friend of the family,” she said tartly.

“Yeah?” the man snorted. “I find that hard to believe.”

An indignant feeling rose within her. How dare this stranger, this intruder, question her friendship with Ben? Who was he to think he knew anything about her or Ben?

“I _am_ ,” she insisted. “Ben asked me to watch his dog this week.”

“Wait,” the man sat up more, loosening the pressure on her wrists. “You’re the dog sitter?”

“Yes,” she snapped.

“Shit, why didn’t you just say so?” He let her go, standing up and offering a hand to her. She ignored it in favor of getting up under her own power. “I live next door, I was worried about the animals when the power went out. I didn’t think you’d be over here.”

“Clearly,” she said, rubbing her chin tenderly. “I’m Ahsoka,” she finally introduced.

“Rex,” he returned. “Sorry about the whole, uh, fighting you thing.”

He sounded so sincere, and more than a little sheepish, that she felt herself smiling before she could think about it. “To be fair, I started it.”

He laughed. “I’m the one who practically broke in, I think you were just exercising your right to self-defense.”

She giggled a little. “Well, I’m sorry too, for throwing you into the chair.”

“Want to just call it even?” he offered.

“I suppose that’s fair,” she nodded.

Lightening flashed again and she was able to get a slightly better look at him. Close-cropped hair, almost shaved completely bald, but he was smiling at her. Without tension pulling his shoulders up, he actually looked pretty friendly.

“Would you like to come back with me?” he asked. “We have a generator in the basement, so we still have power.”

“I don’t really want to leave Jinn,” she said, looking in the direction of where the dog was still shut in the bedroom.

“You can bring him over,” Rex assured her. “He gets along with my brother’s dogs, it won’t be a problem.”

“What about the cats?”

“They can fend for themselves for a bit,” he said. “The power should be back on in a few hours, they’ll be fine until then.”

“Well,” she thought about it for another moment. It _would_ be nice to do something other than sit in the dark for however long it took to fix the power. “As long as you’re sure it’ll be okay…”

She wasn’t sure if her eyes were playing tricks on her or if Rex had genuinely flashed a large grin at her. “No trouble at all, I promise.”

“Alright,” she agreed with a small smile. She turned to fetch Jinn, then paused and turned back to Rex. “What were you threatening me with, by the way?”

“Oh, ah,” he shifted, almost with embarrassment. “That would be a rawhide chew toy. I had it in case Jinn wasn’t feeling trusting.”

“You threatened me with a _dog bone_?” She laughed. “That’s a new one.”

“I could have hit you with it pretty hard!” he defended.

She just laughed again and grabbed her jacket and phone, fumbled for Jinn’s leash in the dark, finally was able to clip it onto the dog, and with a nod, they set off into the driving rain.

* * *

Rex was never more thankful that it was only a short sprint from Kenobi’s front door to Cody’s. Their mad dash lasted less than thirty seconds, but it was enough to soak humans and canine to the bone.

He shouldered the door open roughly, fingers going numb with cold, and ushered Ahsoka and Jinn inside. “Cody!”

“What?” his brother yelled from deeper in the house. “Did you break something?”

“No,” he scowled in the general direction of his sibling as he kicked his boots off. “Bring us some towels, would you?”

“Us?” Cody questioned, but Rex didn’t answer. He was rather preoccupied as Echo and Fives skidded around the corner to greet them. The Boxers tripped over each other in their haste to see their friend, while Jinn’s tail was creating a small hurricane to rival the one raging outside.

Cody was thankfully quick in gathering an armful of towels, and was only a few moments behind his dogs. “Hello,” he said, handing Ahsoka a couple of towels. “Who’re you?”

“A-Ahsoka Tano,” she said, teeth starting to chatter with cold.

“She’s taking care of Jinn and the cats,” Rex said, relieving Cody of another few towels for himself.

He nodded. “I’m Cody Fett, Rex’s brother.”

Ahsoka smiled as she wrapped her hair up in one towel. “Never would have guessed,” she said dryly. Rex muffled his snort in his towel. Being twins, it was hard to miss that he and Cody were related.

Cody rolled his eyes good-naturedly. “I can see why Ben likes you,” he said, taking the last towel to dry off Jinn. “You’re certainly sarcastic enough for him.”

She laughed shortly, wrapping a second towel tightly around her shoulders. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”

The brothers chuckled a bit. “I’ve got some old sweats that might fit you,” Rex offered. “You look like a drowned rat.”

“You certainly know how to charm a lady,” Ahsoka shook her head, but smiled. “That’d be great, thank you.”

“No problem,” he said, heading to his room to grab some dry clothes for both of them. Cody herded the dogs away, into the more spacious living room, leaving Ahsoka to follow Rex.

It only took a few moments to find a pair of small-ish pants and a t-shirt before showing her to the bathroom. Rex threw on some dry clothes himself before heading back out, letting Ahsoka take her time.

“So,” Cody accosted him almost as soon as he had set foot in the living room. “What happened?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Rex said immediately, automatically, a reaction built in from always being considered the ‘troublemaker’.

He had never been able to fool his twin though, a fact he was reminded of as Cody lifted one eyebrow imperiously. “Right. That’s why you’re moving so stiffly and there seems to be a lovely bruise blossoming on the chin of your new friend.”

“She might have thought I was a burglar or something,” Rex admitted. “But in my defense, I didn’t know she was even over there.”

“She attacked you.” It wasn’t a question. Rex’s silence was a good enough answer, and Cody sighed and motioned for him to turn around. “Let me take a look.”

“I’m _fine_!”

“Oh, yeah,” Cody rolled his eyes and gave Rex a friendly slap on his shoulder blade, causing the other to suck in a pained breath. “I can see that. So you’d be fine with fighting me for that shirt, then?”

“You play dirty,” Rex grumbled, turning around and pulling his shirt back off. It would be less painful for everyone to just let Cody satisfy his worry now.

“I’m your brother, it’s practically required to play dirty,” Cody scoffed as he examined the damage. “What did she do to you?”

“Tackled me into a chair,” he muttered. “And then slammed me to the floor a couple times.”

“Sounds like your kind of party,” Cody teased. He ran a cool hand over the red line that was rapidly turning into a nasty bruise across Rex’s shoulders. “I don’t think you broke anything, at least.”

“You mean _she_ didn’t break anything,” Rex corrected, pulling his shirt back on. “Not like I threw myself on the damn furniture.”

“You scared her,” Cody said evenly. “I think she was well within her rights. And it looked to me like you got in at least one good shot of your own.”

“Clipped her,” Rex nodded, looking a bit sheepish. “Think she’ll want an ice pack?”

“Can’t hurt to offer one,” Cody said, nudging his brother towards the kitchen. Even if Ahsoka didn’t want it, it wouldn’t hurt Rex to ice his shoulders for a while, either.

Jinn had already claimed the large dog bed by the couch, content to watch as Fives tried to bait Echo into a wrestling match. Cody crouched next to the older dog to rub his ears for a moment. Jinn grunted happily and leaned into his hand.

“He seems to be at home here.”

He smiled over his shoulder at Ahsoka. “Ben brings him over a lot to help keep Echo and Fives in line.”

She laughed lightly and moved to sit on the couch. “Interesting names.”

Cody rolled his eyes. “You can blame Rex for ‘em; I do.”

“Hey!” the man in question complained as he walked back in with a bag of ice wrapped in a dishtowel. “They have _great_ names, thank you very much.” He turned to their guest. “Do you want some ice? For your chin?”

“Yes, thank you.” She accepted the bag gratefully, pressing it to her bruised skin with a quiet sigh. “So, why Echo and Fives? And which is which?”

“Fives is the one with the stripe up his nose,” Rex said, gesturing towards the dog. “Echo has the bigger white patch on his chest.”

“It kind of looks like a handprint,” Cody offered. Ahsoka nodded, still waiting to hear the story behind the names.

“So, Echo got his name because when we first got him, he wouldn’t bark until Fives did first. He was his brother’s echo,” Rex explained.

Ahsoka smiled. “That’s cute. And the name fits.”

“Thank you,” he said, sending a smug look at Cody. “As for Fives, well, the stripe on his nose was originally five little white patches. They turned into a stripe when he lost his puppy fur.”

“Those seem like perfectly reasonable names,” she said.

“Yeah, once you get the backstory,” Cody rolled his eyes. “Otherwise, we’re just the guys who gave their dogs dumb names.”

“You wanted to name them Boost and Comet, I don’t see how those are any better!”

“I’ve heard of pets being named Boost and Comet before,” Cody pointed out. “Echo and Fives? Not so much.”

“Just makes it easier to find them in a crowd,” Rex argued. “No one else is yelling for them.”

“He has a point,” Ahsoka shrugged.

Cody gave a long-suffering sigh. “Well, it doesn’t matter either way,” he said in way of a truce. “They’ll only answer to Rex’s names now.”

Rex smiled smugly and Ahsoka shook her head with a smile. He was briefly entranced by the way the hundreds of tiny micro-braids swayed with the movement, blue and white and natural black, before pulling himself out of his own head and back to the conversation.

“Hopefully the power will be back up by morning at the latest,” Cody was saying, “But just in case it isn’t, you’re more than welcome to stay here until it’s fixed.”

“What about the cats?” Ahsoka asked with a worried frown.

“You could probably bring the small one over, she’s friendly enough,” Cody assured her. “I’ve never even seen the other one, so I don’t know how much luck you’d have with him.”

“I haven’t seen him either,” she admitted. “Ben said they’d be okay all week, but…”

“You feel a responsibility for them,” Cody nodded. “I understand, don’t worry. We’ll see what happens as far as the electric goes and make a decision from there, okay?”

Relieved to have some sort of plan, even if it was half-assed, she nodded gratefully. “Thank you both so much for taking Jinn and me in.”

“Like I said, it’s no trouble,” Rex told her again.

Cody nodded. “We’d be pretty poor neighbors if we didn’t offer help, even if you’re just the dog sitter and not the actual neighbor.”

“Either way, I really appreciate it,” she offered them both a wide grin.

* * *

When she woke up, Ahsoka felt a flash of panic. She was in an unfamiliar room, an unfamiliar bed, and unfamiliar _clothes_. What the hell was going on?

Sitting up in the bed, pulling the baggy t-shirt tighter, brought some light to the situation. The room was pretty sparse, but the bedside table featured a small picture frame, two identical young boys giving the camera the same crooked grins and standing on either side of a woman with her head thrown back in laughter.

Twins. Rex and Cody. The power outage, the storm, the mad dash to the Fett household…

Ahsoka released a breath she hadn’t even been aware of holding, willed the tension from her shoulders. She was in Rex’s room – he had insisted on it, claiming the couch for himself and shooing her to take his own bed.

The blankets at the foot of the bed shifted and she jumped a little, laughing breathlessly as a familiar red snout poked out from under the sheets.

“Hey, Jinn,” she said, pulling back the coverings to reveal the dog’s head. “You startled me, buddy, I didn’t know you were there.”

His tail wagged at the attention, creating a tangled mess of blankets and sheets around her feet. She absently ran her hand over his soft ears, taking stock of her surroundings. The rain was still pattering outside, though not as violently as it had been last night, casting a soft gray light through the blinds over the window. It seemed to give the whole room a sort of hazy look, the shadows blurring the edges of the dresser and small desk in the corner, turning the dark greens in the camouflage pattern of the backpack on the floor to black, and making Jinn look older than he was.

There was a sweatshirt folded neatly on top of the dresser, and when Ahsoka got up to put it on, warding off the morning chill, she had to snort a little upon seeing that it proclaimed the wearer to be a “Boxer Dad” in large block letters.

Her phone was sitting next to the sweatshirt, and waking it up to check the time (just shy of 7 AM) brought the notification of _’27 messages and 2 missed calls’_. One text from her mom, one from her boss, one call from her landlord, and 25 texts and one call from Barriss. Feeling only a little guilty, Ahsoka closed her phone again and slipped it into her pocket. She needed food before dealing with concerned friends and parental units.

Thankfully, Cody was apparently an early riser. Stepping out into the living room found Rex still sprawled on the couch, snoring in tandem with Fives, who was laying on top of him, but Cody was in the kitchen making coffee.

“Morning,” he said quietly when she walked up. “Coffee?”

“Please,” she nodded, stifling a yawn. After the initial burst of awareness brought by panic, she had faded back into sleepy semi-cognizance. Echo was curled up on the small rug in front of the sink, watching them with one eye open. Jinn hadn’t followed Ahsoka out, apparently finding Rex’s warm bed preferable to the cold kitchen tile at the moment.

Standing there, in the chill kitchen with Cody and Echo, waiting for the coffee and listening to Rex and Fives snore, Ahsoka felt oddly at home. She hadn’t even known these men a whole day yet, but they had slotted comfortably into her life almost immediately. Of course, it probably helped that they had stayed up for quite a while the night before talking and getting to know each other.

For instance, now she knew that Cody was a police officer, low man on the totem pole for now, but confident that he would be promoted soon. He was ambitious, kindhearted, in possession of a dry wit, and good friends with Ben. Ahsoka got the feeling he was the unofficial Mom Friend; he was protective of not only Rex, but Ben and Anakin as well.

The brothers had also (unintentionally) confirmed that the Anakin in the pictures was Ben’s mysterious roommate, though as they were operating under the assumption that Ahsoka knew who he was, they hadn’t offered any specific details about his person.

As for Rex, he was fresh out of the Army and taking online classes, trying to figure out what he wanted to do now. He had proclaimed vehemently that he was not going to work as a bartender for the rest of his life, even if there were good tips involved. After Ahsoka told him she worked as a waitress in one of the fancier restaurants in town, the conversation had largely devolved into them swapping stories about bad customers, until both of them were falling asleep on their feet and Cody gently ordered both of them to bed.

It was an odd sort of kinship that had sprung up between Ahsoka and the Fetts, born out of forced company, shared aches, and griping about working in customer service, but it worked. They were easy to talk to, the conversation flowed in a natural rhythm that Ahsoka often found lacking with most of her classmates. She understood why Ben had given her Cody’s number in case of an emergency; the man was a born leader, and both of the brothers seemed to keep a level head in a crisis.

The coffee machine beeped, jolting Ahsoka out of her ruminations, and she murmured her thanks as Cody poured a mug for her.

“Milk’s in the fridge,” he said, reaching for the sugar bowl himself and scooping a somewhat alarming amount into his mug.

“Want some coffee to go with that sugar?” Ahsoka asked, only stirring in a couple of spoonfuls for herself.

Cody shrugged. “Nah, I’m good.”

She rolled her eyes and took a sip. “Ahhh, that hits the spot,” she nodded at him. “Thank you.”

“Welcome,” he said, raising his mug at her in a sort of toast.

They stood together in silence for a while longer, enjoying their caffeine and slowly waking up. Ahsoka smiled into her mug. This was… nice. This was something she wasn’t aware she had been missing.

Really, she thought, she could get very used to this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The response to this story has been amazing! I can't tell how how pleased I am that so many people have left kudos and comments just on the first chapter, I've even gotten a few asks on tumblr about it! You are all so great, and I'm so glad you're enjoying my little AU so far. The next chapter will be up next week, and there will probably only be one more after that. But don't worry! I'm planning on playing in this 'verse in a while, so even when this story is finished, there will more than likely be more content from me about the washed clean 'verse.


	3. Chapter 3

The power still wasn’t on when Rex woke up, close to 8 o’clock. The combined aroma of coffee and what Cody claimed to be his ‘famous pancakes’ worked better than any alarm on his brother, and the first serving of batter was just starting to brown when he wandered into the kitchen.

“Chocolate chip?” Rex asked hopefully, still trying to blink sleep out of his eyes.

Cody scoffed. “When have I ever made pancakes without chocolate chips?”

“That time when we went camping and you forgot to pack them.”

“I packed plenty, _you’re_ the one who ate them all on the drive up.”

Unable to come up with a good enough response to that before he was fully awake, Rex just grunted and turned to the coffee pot, only to find that Ahsoka had already poured him a mug. “Oh. Thanks.”

“No problem,” she said, handing it over. “You certainly need it.”

He took a sip and made a face, and Ahsoka frowned. “Did I put too much sugar in? Cody said you like it really sweet, like he does.”

“No, I just –” he stepped around her and grabbed the sugar bowl. “I like _more_ sugar.” Adding a couple more heaping spoonfuls, he tried it again and nodded to himself.

Ahsoka looked to Cody, who smiled slightly. “We didn’t get much in the way of sweets as kids, so we overcompensate now.”

“You’re going to die of super diabetes.”

The brothers looked at each other over her head and shrugged at each other. “There are worse ways to go.”

Ahsoka shook her head and looked out of the window over the kitchen sink. The entire neighborhood was still dark. “Power’s still out.”

“Thank god for generators,” Rex said mildly, slowly becoming more awake as he sipped his overly sweet coffee. “Think we should start knocking on doors, Cody?”

“Let’s give it until after breakfast at least,” he said mildly, flipping the pancake. “I’m sure we aren’t the only area without power. The poor bastards at the power station have probably been working since last night, I’m sure they’ll get it fixed soon.”

Content to follow his brother’s lead, Rex nodded and pulled out plates and glasses for the three’s breakfast.

* * *

So maybe Cody’s pancakes weren’t widely known, but Ahsoka was firmly of the opinion that they should be. “You need to open a restaurant,” she told him after the last bites had disappeared off their plates. “I’d eat there every day. Hell, I’d work for you.”

“See?” Rex said before Cody could answer. “She thinks so, too! _Everyone_ is waiting for Cody’s Bistro.”

“Please,” he snorted. “Pancakes are easy, but that’s about my limit.”

“Lies,” Rex said sternly.

“Dishes,” Cody shot back, gesturing at the table. “You know the rules, Rexy. Whoever doesn’t cook does the dishes.” As Ahsoka moved to grab her plate, he shook his head. “And guests don’t count.”

“Oh, I don’t mind,” she assured him, but he motioned for her to sit back.

“Our house, our rules,” he grinned. “Not that I don’t appreciate the sentiment, but you’re a guest. Rex can take care of it.”

“Yeah, I’ve got it,” Rex said with a put-on sigh of world weariness. “I suppose it’s probably for the best that you _don’t_ have a restaurant. I’d be busboy until the end of my days.”

“Yeah, but you’d be the head busboy.”

At the aggrieved look this earned him, Cody burst out into laughter, which Ahsoka couldn’t help but join. As Rex headed back to the sink with his burden, Cody stood from the table.

“I’m going to get changed, I suggest you do the same,” he told their guest. “Your clothes should be dry by now, they’re still hanging in the bathroom. We’ll head out to check on the neighbors soon.”

Ahsoka nodded and headed for the bathroom, not noticing the distracted way Rex was washing the dishes.

Cody definitely noticed, however.

“Stand down,” he said mildly as the bathroom door closed. “Before you burn a hole through her back.”

Rex started a little, fumbling the glass he was holding and dropping it back into the water. He scowled down at the damp spot on his shirt. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Sure you don’t,” Cody agreed. “That’s why you cleaned the same glass three times while Ahsoka was in your field of vision.”

“Maybe I’m just being thorough.”

“Right,” his brother rolled his eyes. “Undergoing a sudden change of character?”

“I could be!”

“Next thing I know, you’ll be telling me that you want to go visit our _dear_ stepfather.”

Rex’s shoulders tensed and his hands stilled. A muscle jumped in his jaw and his eyes narrowed. Cody saw that he had crossed a line and gently reached out.

“Hey,” he said softly. “I’m sorry, that was uncalled for.”

“Don’t,” Rex sucked in a harsh breath, though the warmth of his brother’s hand on his bicep seemed to be helping somewhat. “We don’t talk about him, remember? You promised.”

Though the words sounded a bit childish, the pain behind them was far too dark for any child, going by any sane standards. Cody tugged gently on Rex’s arm. “Hey. I know, I’m sorry, I didn’t think before I spoke.” Rex turned slowly under the prodding, and Cody searched his eyes carefully. “It’s okay, Rex, we’re safe here. He’s never going to hurt you again.”

“I know,” he ground out. “I know. I’m here.”

Cody let out a quiet, relieved sigh. Normally, they both avoided mentioning their stepfather at all costs – Rex usually pretended they had never even had a stepfather. The slip-up was a large and stupid error on Cody’s part, and he was just thankful Rex hadn’t fallen into a full-blown panic attack.

“Go get dressed,” he ordered gently. “I’ll finish up the dishes, and then we can go see if anyone needs help. You can go with Ahsoka, okay?”

Rex nodded, taking a few steadying breaths. “Okay. I can – I can do that.”

Cody smiled at him and gestured in the direction of his brother’s bedroom. “Go on. Take a couple minutes with Fives if you need to.”

He nodded again, walking away and clicking his fingers. Fives fell in obediently next to him, nudging Rex’s hand until it rested on top of the Boxer’s broad head.

* * *

Ahsoka pulled out her phone as she stepped into the bathroom, finally ready to face the barrage of messages. Despite the overwhelming number of texts from Barriss, parental units still had priority.

**TO: Ahsoka, 10:03 PM  
** _Just heard that most of Coruscant is without power. Are you okay?_

**TO: Mom, 8:42 AM  
** _sorry I didn’t respond sooner, yes, I’m fine. I’ll call you later_

She’d had more than one opportunity to be thankful for how chill her mother was in the past, but Ahsoka thought it was a gift she’d probably never truly appreciate until her mom had reason to freak out majorly.

Next on the priorities list was the text from her boss.

**TO: Ahsoka Tano, 9:50 PM  
** _just wanted to let everyone know that the restaurant is in one of the few places that still have power, so you don’t have to worry about cleaning out the refrigerators when we reopen_

**TO: Plo Koon, 8:43 AM  
** _good to know, thank you! Let me know when my next shift is._

It was a worry that hadn’t even crossed her mind the night before, but a wave of relief crashed over her nonetheless. Cleaning out the giant fridges was bad enough when it was just clearing space – throwing away rotten food in the process would be horrible.

It only took a moment of listening to the voice mail from her landlord to ascertain that it was just a curtesy message about the power outage for anyone not currently in their apartment.

Barriss hadn’t left a voice mail when she called, but the 25 texts more than made up for it. They all seemed to be in the same vein – _are you okay, are you safe, is the power out where you are, please don’t die on me I need your help to pass math_.

Ahsoka rolled her eyes, but smiled at her friend’s worry. Barriss could be a bit much at times, but she had a good heart.

**TO: Ahsoka Tano, 2:12 AM  
** _i have accepted your death at this point and will miss you deeply_

**TO: Barriss Offee, 8:51 AM  
** _glad to know ive made such an impression on you_

The poor girl was probably still asleep, and no wonder, since she had evidently been up all night. Ahsoka was hardly surprised when she didn’t respond immediately.

Setting aside her phone, she pulled down her clothes from where they had been hung on the shower curtain rod. They were a little stiff, but thankfully dry. She was firmly of the opinion that few things were worse than wet jeans. They unfortunately smelled a little musty from the rain, mud, and air-drying, but there wasn’t much to be done about that, at least until the power came back and she could put them through a vigorous washing machine cycle.

Her shirt was in a similar state, a bit stiff but wearable, but her hoodie was still firmly in the ‘uncomfortably damp’ zone. Ahsoka weighed her options for a moment. Surely Rex wouldn’t mind if she borrowed his sweatshirt for a bit longer… after all, he _had_ left it out for her…

She folded up the borrowed pants and t-shirt, pulling the ‘Boxer Dad’ sweatshirt back on before heading back out into the living room.

Cody was nowhere to be found, but Rex was seated on the floor in front of the couch, all three dogs crowded around him. Echo and Jinn had taken up post on either side of him, pressing warmly against his thighs while Fives did his best impersonation of a lapdog, curled up as small as possible to fit between Rex’s crisscrossed legs. He looked extremely pleased with the setup, smiling down at Fives broadly as he pet Echo and Jinn.

“You finished the dishes pretty quick,” she commented, plopping down to sit in front of him and reaching to pet Jinn as well.

“Cody took pity on me,” he replied evenly. “He went to get dressed, should be finished soon.” He looked up from Fives, raising an eyebrow at her attire. “Still a Boxer Dad, huh?”

“My hoodie is still wet,” she explained with a somewhat sheepish smile. “You don’t mind, do you?”

“No, of course not, it… it’s fine. You look good,” he finished lamely, quickly looking back down at the dogs. Ahsoka decided to let the moment pass without comment.

A few minutes passed, both humans happy enough to just sit and lavish their furry companions with attention while they waited. Cody finally reappeared from the other bedroom, tugging his own sweatshirt into place. “Ready to go, you two?”

“Yep, ready to save the world.” Ahsoka offered a bright smile, making him chuckle.

“Every bit helps,” he nodded. “Rex?”

“Ready and waiting, Commander,” he said, giving his brother a lazy salute.

“Right. You two start on the left side, I’ll take the right,” Cody said, grabbing Echo’s leash from a shelf full of dog supplies by the TV.

Rex nudged Fives out of his lap and stood. “We can do that, right, Ahsoka?”

“Aye aye, Captain,” she nodded, standing up.

Cody snickered a little and Rex rolled his eyes. “It’s not _that_ funny.”

“It kind of is.”

“What’s, uh, _not_ funny?” Ahsoka asked.

“Rex was a captain in the army,” Cody explained.

“Oh. _Oooh._ ” She smirked at her own unintentional joke.

Rex’s eyes rolled heavenwards again. “Come on, or I’ll have you sent back to basic.”

Cody laughed as he hooked up Echo on the leash. The other two dogs were staying behind, but since Cody was making his rounds alone, he had decided it would be best to take Echo, just in case. They all filed towards the door, ready, as Ahsoka had said, to save the world in some small way.

* * *

_“Hey.”_ A small, simple word, but he could hear the smile behind it.

“Hey yourself,” he responded. “Finally was able to climb a tall enough tree to get a signal, so I thought I’d call.”

A short laugh. _“You break a leg climbing back down, it’s your own fault. I’m not flying all the way out there just to drag your sorry ass out of the forest.”_

“I have it on good authority that you quite like my ass,” he shot back, smirking at the sky.

_“True, but that doesn’t mean I won’t make fun of you endlessly for doing something stupid.”_

“Just following your lead.”

They chuckled together for a moment, enjoying each other’s presence, though thousands of miles lay between them physically.

_“Did you hear about the storm?”_

“No,” he said, smile dropping. “Are you okay?”

_“I’m fine, it’s not here. Coruscant is almost completely without power; home got hit hard.”_

He frowned worriedly. “I hope everyone is okay.”

_“Nothing we can do right now, unfortunately.”_

“Indeed,” he murmured, rubbing a pensive hand over his chin, feeling the prickly beard that was growing in during his short expedition. “Hopefully Ahsoka is okay, going over to take care of Jinn and the cats.”

_“She’s more than competent, I’m sure,”_ he reassured the other. _“Besides, Cody and Rex will step in if need be.”_

“True.” They fell silent again, each lost in his own thoughts. A shout from the camp caused him to sigh. “I’m sorry, but I’ve got to go.”

_“Work goes on,”_ he agreed. _“I’ve got to get going, too.”_

“I’ll call again as soon as I can,” he promised.

_“I’ll be waiting. I love you.”_

“Love you, too, Anakin.”

Ben hung up and walked back to the campsite, still quietly worrying over the situation back home.

“Domestic troubles?”

“Hm?” he looked up from his feet at the question. “Oh, no, everything’s fine. Apparently there’s a power outage back in Coruscant, though.”

Aayla Secura nodded. “Ah, yes, I heard about that. There’s a severe storm warning over the whole area for most of the week.” She didn’t seem worried, but then he had noticed that few things could phase the anthropology professor. She was possessed of a nearly unshakable disposition, helpful in the field, but sometimes a bit off-putting in the classroom. “Now, come on. The ruins aren’t getting any younger, and neither are we.”

“As you say,” he nodded with a small smile. There wasn’t anything he could do for Ahoksa, so he might as well continue on with his trip to study the recently discovered native ruins.

* * *

Ahsoka sighed a little as they walked away from the fourth house. “I’m not sure if I should be relieved or disappointed that no one wants our help.”

“You have full permission to feel slighted,” Rex snorted. “She was downright rude.”

She laughed a little as they continued on. The last homeowner had been indecently brisk in shooing them away, to put it lightly.

“Other than that, I think it’s a good thing everyone seems to be okay. Means we don’t have to try and doctor anyone, at least.”

“True,” Ahsoka nodded. It’s not like she _wanted_ anyone to be sick or injured, but it would be nice to feel like she was doing something to help. “I wonder how Cody’s doing.”

“Probably about the same as us,” Rex shrugged. “Most people in this neighborhood are nice enough, but tend to keep to themselves. They might be a bit more open with him, though,” he said, looking thoughtful. “’Police officer’ usually inspires more confidence then ‘bartender and waitress’.”

“But you were in the army!”

“Key word there being _were_ ,” he said. “I’m not active anymore, and besides, most people around here don’t know much about me to begin with.”

“Oh.” She colored slightly in embarrassment. “Right.”

“You didn’t know,” Rex waved aside her oversight. “It’s fine.” Contrary to his excessive socialization from the past night and that morning, Rex was usually fairly solitary, tending to seek company only in his brother and their closest neighbors. He hadn’t clicked so quickly and so well with someone, like he had with Ahsoka, in years. Even Anakin, who could arguably be considered Rex’s best friend outside of Cody, hadn’t gotten so close in such a short amount of time.

Though, it wasn’t exactly by choice that they found themselves thrown together.

* * *

“Why are you doing this to me?”

“You say that like I’m torturing you,” Cody said wryly, raising one eyebrow. “Listen, you don’t even have to dress up. They don’t care, I promise.”

“But –” Rex tried to protest.

“No,” his brother said sternly. “You’re going to dinner and you’re going to like it. I’m not above blackmailing you into it.”

Knowing Cody, he was bound to have some very incriminating pictures from their youth. Rex grimaced. He didn’t want _anyone_ to see those hypothetical pictures, strangers or not.

“Rex,” Cody sighed, “Come on. I’m worried about you. You’ve barely left the house since you got back.” He reached out and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. “It’s just a few hours, okay? Just, give it a try. For me. Please?”

“…fine.”

Cody’s face lit up in a smile, and Rex couldn’t help but smile back. Damn his brother for having that effect on people. “Thank you,” he said sincerely. “It means a lot to me.”

(He only found out later that almost the exact same conversation had happened in the other house, that Ben and Cody were both worried about their anti-social housemates, and that Anakin had been about as reluctant as Rex to spend time with the other two)

* * *

“I don’t think anyone is home,” Ahsoka said suddenly, jolting Rex out of his own head. They were standing on the front porch of a small house, and Ahsoka had been knocking on the door for the past several minutes.

“It is spring break,” Rex shrugged. “Plenty of people go on vacation around now.”

“Yeah,” she nodded, turning away from the door. They walked back down to the sidewalk together, and despite the fact that her hands were in her pockets, Rex felt a strong urge to hold her hand.

_Stop that_ , he chided himself. _You haven’t even known her for a whole day._

But Ahsoka seemed to have a pull on him, as unconscious for her as a planet on its moon. Their sum time together had only just passed thirteen hours, and several of those were spent sleeping in different rooms, but Rex found himself drawn to her, caught in her gravitation pull without either of them asking for it.

It certainly didn’t help that she had been wearing his clothes for most of those thirteen hours, bringing to mind some ideas that he didn’t want to entertain, at least until the power was back and the storm had passed. Even now, in her own pants and shirt, she still had his sweatshirt on, which really shouldn’t be as distracting as it was.

“Did you see that?”

“See what?” he asked, squinting in the direction she was looking.

“I thought…” she hesitated, then shook her head. “Nothing, sorry. Just thought I saw a pair of eyes in those bushes.”

“Probably just an animal,” he said. “Nothing to worry about.”

“Right,” she nodded, still watching the large hydrangea bushes across the street out of the corner of her eye. “Let’s just – let’s keep moving.”

* * *

They met back up with Cody about an hour after starting. Luckily, their small development didn’t have many homes, so it hadn’t taken long to canvas the area.

“Anything?” Cody asked as he walked up.

“Nothing to report,” Rex shook his head. “What about you?”

“Echo didn’t even find a squirrel to chase,” he replied.

“Cody, oh my god, what _happened_?”

Before he could answer, Ahsoka grabbed his chin and tilted his head down so that she could get a better look at the black eye that was blossoming on his face.

“I’m fine,” he mumbled as well as he could with her holding his jaw.

“Oh, like you’d let that slide if I walked in with a shiner that pretty,” Rex snorted, examining the damage over Ahsoka’s head. “Come on, brother. Who’d you piss off?”

“I –” His protest was cut off with a glare from the other two. Cody sighed heavily. “Miss Ventress.”

“What did you _do_?” Ahsoka asked, finally letting go of his chin.

He rolled his eyes, immediately regretting it as the deep bruise gave a throb of pain. “Walked up with Echo. I forgot how much she hates dogs.”

“She hauled off on you for having a dog?!”

“Ventress isn’t the most reasonable person,” Rex explained with a deep scowl. “She’s petitioned the HOA a number of times trying to get rid of all the dogs in the neighborhood, especially Echo, Fives, and Jinn.”

Ahsoka looked downright scandalized at the idea. “What is her _problem_?”

“She just really hates dogs. And those of us who love them.” Cody shook his head in a ‘what can you do?’ manner. “Come on, let’s go back home. Nothing more we can do right now.”

“Of course,” Rex continued as they turned back towards the Fett house, “If anyone says a word against her damn beasts, she lets loose holy hell on them.”

“Her beasts?” Ahsoka questioned.

“Her cats,” Cody explained. “They’re half feral, roaming the neighborhood as they please and attacking anyone who gets too close.”

“The big one is easy enough to avoid,” Rex grimaced. “Monster of a Main Coon, I swear he’s nearly Echo’s size, but you can at least see him coming. It’s the other one you’ve really got to watch out for.”

“Nasty little Egyptian Mau,” Cody added. “Lost his tail and part of a back paw a while back, attacks anything that moves in a roughly ten foot radius.”

“We call ‘em Savage and Maul, because that’s what they do,” Rex smirked. “The big one is a savage and the little one will maul you.”

“And she’s allowed to keep them?” Ahsoka asked incredulously.

“Not much anyone can do about it,” Rex shrugged. “If you get close enough to catch one, you’re probably going to lose a finger, if not your whole hand. And since everyone around here is sensible enough to avoid them, we don’t really have the evidence to call Animal Control. So we just avoid them.”

“No one has any little kids, so it’s actually not that big of a problem,” Cody nodded. “We leave them alone, they leave us alone.”

“Still,” she frowned, “That’s just… that’s horrible.” She thought back to the eyes she had seen in the bushes earlier and shivered slightly, suddenly very thankful that they had been walking on the other side of the street. She didn’t want to meet either one of Ventress’ ‘beasts’, or the woman herself. It sounded like a nightmare waiting to happen, or at the very least a fight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, I have to say how surprised I am by the response to this story!! And that I'm sorry it took a bit longer to get this chapter up, but school has to take priority over fanfiction, unfortunately. 
> 
> Thank you all so much for the kind words and encouragements, and I'd like to extend a formal welcome and apology to those I've dragged into the Rexsoka fandom. You're gonna love it, but you're gonna cry about it, too. All the best ships are that way, though, aren't they?


	4. Chapter 4

_ “What do you mean my funding’s been cut?!” _

The shout was loud enough that the secretary sitting at her desk outside of the office winced a little. Not that he realized that, caught up as he was in the immediate problem of suddenly lacking money.

“I’m sorry, but the board has decided that your research project isn’t profitable anymore.”

He bit back the growl that crawled up his throat. “Finding a more cost-effective and worker-friendly way to manufacture products isn’t  _ profitable _ , is it?” He had a sinking feeling that he knew what this was really about.

The director shifted uncomfortably in his seat, but held his ground. “Yes. I’m terribly sorry, but we don’t have a place for you here anymore, Professor Skywalker.”

Anakin fixed the director with a harsh glare for a long moment. “Fine,” he snapped, standing up.

“I guess I’m getting a break this week after all. I do hope,” he said, sarcasm absolutely dripping from the words, “That it wouldn’t be too  _ inconvenient _ or  _ costly _ for you to find me a flight back to Coruscant tonight?”

Appropriately cowed, the director nodded. “Yes, of course, I’ll get right on it. Ah, thank you for your time and interest, Professor.”

Anakin didn’t bother returning the nicety, spinning dramatically on his heel and stalking out without another word.

He left the building in a storm of fury, and didn’t even realize he had taken out his phone and dialed a number until a familiar voice answered.

_ “Hello, love. Is something wrong?” _

Just hearing his voice helped somewhat, and his furious pace slowed slightly. “The bastards cut my funding.”

_ “What? Why?” _

“According to the director, the board doesn’t think my research is profitable.” He allowed the growl to surface now, biting out the words with disdain. “I think we both know that isn’t true, though.”

On the other end of the line, and on the other side of the country, Obi-Wan sighed heavily.  _ “I’m sorry to hear that. Anything I can do for you?” _

“Not unless you can purge the world of assholes and transphobics,” Anakin snorted darkly. “I’m just as capable, if not more so, than any other engineer they’ll find to finish this project! Just because I’m not – not –” He huffed out a frustrated breath, choking on the words.

_ "Hey, hey,”  _ Obi-Wan soothed.  _ “Take a breath, okay? It’s not worth getting worked up over right now – unfortunately, you can’t win every battle.” _

“I know,” he mumbled, trying to fight down the urge to scream and cry at the world. “I know, it’s just – how could they? I’m one of the best minds in my field!”

_ “Some people are just too set in their antiquated ways to see true genius when it’s in front of them wearing modern clothes,”  _ he said.  _ “I  _ **_am_ ** _ sorry to hear about it, though.” _

Anakin nodded in acknowledgement, though his partner couldn’t see him. “Yeah, me too.”

_ “Are you going to head back home?” _

“Hopefully – I told the director I wanted a flight back tonight.”

_ “Well, don’t forget to find someone to give you a ride.” _

“I know.”

The phone crackled horribly with static, making him wince. “What?”

_ “I said… need to… -ening… -ay? Bad… -tion…” _

“I’ll call you when I get back home, okay?” Anakin said, struggling to make out what had been said.

_ “Fi-… -ove you.” _

“Love you, too,” he smiled softly, hanging up. Obi-Wan must have wandered into an area with bad reception, which was only far too easy to do in the mountains.

Anakin slipped his phone back into his pocket and started walking back towards his hotel, for lack of anything else to do. He could at least pack up his things and get ready to go.

* * *

Barriss finally woke up when Ahsoka and the Fetts were almost back to the brothers’ house.

**TO: Ahsoka Tano, 10:03 AM**

_ where have you been!?!? _

**TO: Barriss Offee, 10:03 AM**

_ well i was sleeping last night like a normal person _

**TO: Ahsoka Tano, 10:03 AM**

_ shut up ive pulled more allnighters with you than alone _

**TO: Barriss Offee, 10:04 AM**

_ okay true but not over spring break _

**TO: Ahsoka Tano, 10:04 AM**

_ fine but you didnt answer my question _

Ahsoka rolled her eyes and smiled, Rex catching the look.

“Something funny?”

“My friend, Barriss,” she explained with a little laugh. “She’s a little high strung, but I love her.”

“So’s Cody, and I still love him,” Rex smirked, slinging an arm over his twin’s shoulders.

“I’m not the one who freaked out about Jinn and the cats when the power went out,” Cody snorted in reply, shrugging the arm off.

“You – you be quiet.”

**TO: Barriss Offee, 10:05 AM**

_ im with friends dont worry _

* * *

It was only when Anakin was zipping up his suitcase that he remembered the power outage back home.

“Shit.” He stared at his reflection in the blank TV screen, wondering if he might be stuck in Purkell after all. He had some friends in the area, fellow engineers and old drinking buddies from his student days, but most of them worked for the TechnoUnion, which had just rudely ousted him from the premises. Even though he knew that his friends didn’t have a problem with him or his identity, it was the principle of the matter. He was well known for his stubbornness and unforgiving professional nature – it wouldn’t do to cave to the transphobic higher powers of the company just because he wanted to bitch to some friends, at least in his mind.

Obi-Wan was out of cell service, unfortunately, and he doubted his lover could do anything to help, anyways. He was off wandering around the Alderaan mountain range, not home.

Maybe Cody or Rex? No, he pushed the idea away. Knowing those two, they would be working to help anyone in need, phones either dead or turned off or only answering emergency numbers. Most of the other people back home that he had numbers for would be doing the same, or were also out of town at the moment.

Well… Anakin pulled out his phone and scrolled through the, pretty short, contacts list. There was one person who might answer his call.

Thankfully, he picked up on the fourth ring.

_ “Skywalker? Aren’t you supposed to be elbow-deep in some sort of oily machine right now?” _

“Hi, Vos,” he rolled his eyes. “Change of plans. I’m coming back now, or at least as soon as possible. What’s the situation back there?”

_ “Someone pissed you off,” _ Quinlan Vos observed neutrally. While not officially associated with the University, he often ended up around campus, bothering his teaching friends or challenging cocky athletes to races up the rock wall.  _ “Sitrep: the weather is shitty and my power thankfully came back on about an hour ago.” _

“Is everything back online?”

_ “No, they’re working in patches, starting with the areas closest to the few lucky ones who never lost power and moving out.” _

“What about the airport?”

_ “They’re far enough out, and on the right side of town, that I think they were one of the unaffected places. Pretty much everything East and South of that snooty private school lost power, everything West and a few patches in the North stayed on the grid.” _

“Private school? St. Mando’a or whatever?”

_ “Yeah, that’s the one. Never liked that blonde lady who runs it. She’s probably all high and mighty about her school being unaffected while everyone else is in the dark.” _

“Probably,” Anakin grimaced, thinking about the Headmistress Kryze. For reasons he would probably never fully understand, she and Obi-Wan were somehow friends, even though they argued worse than Obi-Wan and Anakin himself. The older man always insisted that Satine was quite a lovely woman once you got past the cold exterior, but Anakin had yet to see any proof of it. “So I can probably get a flight back, then?”

_ “As long as the break in the storms hold, yeah. I tell you what, man, I almost found religion last night when the first storm hit.” _

“I’m sure you were clutching a rosary to your chest the whole time,” Anakin snorted.

_ “Just about! Sounded like someone was throwing a major tantrum upstairs, or like if God took some time off and assigned that mean-ass cat you got to His job.” _

“Listen,” Anakin began hotly, ready as always to defend his pet.

_ “Save it, Skywalker, I know you love the damn thing, just no one else understands why.” _

He huffed, but let it go. “If I get a flight, can you pick me up from the airport? I’m sure everyone else is busy out saving the world or whatever.”

_ “Yeah, sure, just let me know the times and all that.” _

“Will do. Thanks, Vos.”

_ “No problem, dude.” _ He hung up without another word and Anakin dropped his phone on the bed with a sigh. Vos had the uncanny ability to aggravate everyone without really trying, but he was dependable in an emergency and a good friend.

Now all there was to do was secure a flight – on the TechnoUnion’s dime, of course.

* * *

It was nearly one in the afternoon by the time the power finally returned to the small neighborhood, just when Ahsoka was starting to seriously consider moving the two cats over to Rex and Cody’s house.

The lights in the Fett house flickered briefly and the hum of the generator subsided as it switched back over to the main power grid, eliciting a small cheer from the three human occupants.

“Finally!” Rex exclaimed, throwing his hands into the air. Taking this as an invitation to play, Fives immediately pounced on his owner.

Cody and Ahsoka laughed as Rex tumbled dramatically to the floor from the couch to wrestle with the excited Boxer.

“At least we don’t need to worry about digging out flashlights and candles,” Cody said. “That generator wouldn’t last forever.”

“Yeah, it’s – hey!” Rex yelped as Echo decided to join in on the fun. “I’m being ganged up on!”

Cody shook his head, careful not to dislodge the ice pack he was holding over his black eye, and didn’t move to his brother’s rescue, garnering him an impressive pout from Rex, though the officer remained unmoved.

Ahsoka snickered and also remained where she was, seated on the other end of the couch with Jinn’s head in her lap.

“I suppose I should get out of your hair then,” she told Cody, feeling a twinge of regret that she had to leave the brothers so soon.

“Probably be best to at least check up on the cats and return Jinn to his own bed,” he nodded. “But you’re welcome to come back over, if you’d like.”

She smiled. “Really?”

“Of course!” Rex chimed in from the floor, trying to avoid being squished under the combined 130 lbs. of dog on top of him. “You’re good company.”

“Not tired of me yet?”

“Never,” Rex tilted his head back to offer her an upside-down grin, though it quickly vanished when Fives dropped his full weight onto his owner’s stomach. “ _ Oof! _ ”

“You need to train your dog,” Cody smirked.

“Ex-excuse you,” Rex wheezed, “But Fives ha-happens to be a f-fully certified Canine G-Good Citizen.”

“With everyone but you, apparently.”

“F-fuck you.” Anything else Rex had to say was cut off as Echo decided to take advantage of his pinned position and thoroughly wash his face.

Ahsoka shook her head as she stood up. “Remind me to never get a dog that big.”

“With Rex around, there are no guarantees you can stick to that.” Cody snorted. He snapped his fingers and pointed at the ground next to his chair. “Echo, come!”

The Boxer trotted over obediently, tail nub wagging hard enough to make his whole back end wiggle.

“Thanks,” Rex croaked. “Fives, off.”

The other dog clambered to his feet cheerfully enough, but judging by the strangled noise Rex made, and the way his eyes bugged out a little, Fives had probably pushed off of his spleen. He sat up slowly, wiping the slobber off his face and pointedly ignoring Cody and Ahsoka’s amused looks.

“How brave of you,” Ahsoka grinned.

“Yeah, last outpost of chivalry and all that,” he waved a hand flippantly. “C’mon, you’d better make sure the cats are still alive.”

When Rex returned to the living room a few minutes later, it was to a deeply penetrating look from Cody that reminded him strongly of their mother.

“What?” Rex asked roughly.

“We didn’t finish talking earlier.”

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“About Ahsoka.”

“What about her?”

“About how I haven’t seen you this happy in, good grief, probably  _ years, _ Rex,” Cody said. He lowered the ice pack so as to give his brother his full attention. “You haven’t even known her for a day and she’s making you smile like a kid again.”

“So what?”

“ _ So _ ,” Cody said forcefully, rolling his eyes and immediately regretting it with a wince. “I’m going to make sure you don’t fuck it up, because you know what?”

“What?” Rex raised an eyebrow.

“She was looking at you in a pretty damn similar way.”

He was pretty sure his jaw hit the floor. “What?!” he demanded. “Are you serious? Why didn’t you tell me sooner? Oh my god, do you think she likes me?”

“Calm down, idiot,” Cody sighed. “She at least has some interest in you, so I think you have a chance. But only if you don’t screw up royally.”

“Right, right,” Rex nodded, starting to pace back and forth in front of Cody’s chair. “How do I do that? God, Cody, I haven’t tried to date anyone since probably high school, what do I do?”

“Right now, you stop thinking like a twelve year old and  _ get her number _ so that you don’t lose contact with her after this week.”

“Her number! Brilliant! What would I do without you?”

“You probably would have died years ago.”

“Yeah, that’s true.”

* * *

Securing a flight back to Coruscant turned out to be surprisingly easy, though there were delays from the storm system to contend with. Anakin didn’t mind all that much – not like he was on a schedule anymore. He finally was able to wrench open the door of Quinlan’s little orange Mini Cooper and drop inside tiredly around seven that night.

“You look like hell,” Vos commented lightly.

“Yeah, had a layover there.”

Vos snorted as he pulled away from the curb. “Kenobi’s smart mouth is rubbing off on you more and more every day.”

“Someone’s gotta keep up with him,” Anakin rolled his eyes. “So, anything new to report?”

“The whole city has power again,” he announced cheerfully, taking the corner a bit too quickly for Anakin’s liking. “The last few areas came on around two this afternoon, I think.”

“Good.” His hand crept up to hold onto the handle above the door as Vos practically leapt onto the freeway. “Anything else?”

“Just a lot of mixed reviews on social media from people in the area – most are just thankful the power’s back on, but a few are bitching about how long it took. The usual bullshit.”

He rolled his eyes. “My mom used to say that some people are never happy unless they’re miserable.”

“Preach,” Vos nodded solemnly as he swerved past a slower car, cutting it far closer than entirely necessary. “Hey, where do you live?”

“Other side of the city.” He flinched, bracing for impact as they cut across three lanes of traffic without warning. “Who the hell taught you how to drive, man?!”

“My dad,” he responded cheerfully. “Although I can’t remember him ever getting a valid driver’s license, and I’m pretty sure the lady who tested me had her eyes closed the whole time.”

“I can –  _ holy shit! _ – I can see why!” he said shrilly as they narrowly avoided death for what had to be the fifth time in ten minutes. For all that Obi-Wan complained about Anakin’s driving skills, he had clearly never been driven by Quinlan Vos before. Anakin was practically a cautious grandpa by comparison.

“So where are you, exactly?”

“The new Open Circle development –  _ car!” _

Vos swerved around the other vehicle casually. “Oh, I know right where that is! I’ve got a friend over there.”

“Great,” he said through gritted teeth, deeply regretting all of the life decisions that had led to him being squished into Vos’ damn orange Mini Cooper and flying down the road at breakneck speeds. “Just get me there in one piece.”

“You got it, Skywalker!”

* * *

“Hey, Ahsoka?”

“Yeah?”

“You know anybody with an ugly orange car?”

“I don’t think so. Why?”

“Because one is stopping outside of the house.”

“What?”

Ahsoka got up from the couch and walked over to the window where Cody stood, looking out on Ben’s driveway. After making sure the cats (well,  _ cat _ – Padmé had been happy to see her, but the other one was still hidden away somewhere) were okay and getting rid of any spoiled food in the fridge, she had returned to the Fetts to while away the afternoon, which had quickly turned into dinner with them and continuing to talk into the evening.

In the dim glow from the streetlight, she could see a small, boxy car with a toxic orange paintjob sitting at the curb. There were two people inside, apparently talking. The passenger shook the driver’s hand and then got out of the vehicle, going around to the back and retrieving a black duffle bag. It was too dark to make out any details of the passenger, other than that they were fairly tall.

And that they were headed towards Ben’s house while the car idled at the curb.

“Burglars?” Ahsoka asked worriedly.

“Let’s not jump to conclusions –” Cody cautioned.

“They’re breaking in,” Rex observed, looking out over Ahsoka’s head. The passenger had knelt down in front of the door, fiddling with the lock for a few moments before standing and kicking the door open, striding inside. The car pulled away from the curb at an alarming speed as the door slammed shut, and the brothers and Ahsoka exchanged worried looks.

“I’m going over,” Ahsoka declared, already heading to the door to grab her shoes.

“Hey, no!” Cody reached out to grab her shoulder, but she dodged his hand and scurried away. He sighed and glared at Rex, as though it was his fault. “Call the station, tell them I’m already on the scene but I need backup.”

“But –”

“I already have Ahsoka to deal with, I don’t need to be watching out for you, too,” Cody said sternly, rushing after their new friend before Rex could argue.

* * *

“There, just stop by that streetlight.” Anakin gestured towards the light by the driveway. Vos whipped the car into a parallel park next to the curb at a dizzying rate, and for about the thousandth time over the past hour, Anakin swore to never ask for or accept a ride from the madman ever again. “…thanks.”

“No problem,” Vos said cheerfully. “You look a little sick, man, you okay?”

“Fine,” he said shortly, unbuckling and holding out his hand. “See you around.”

“Yeah, see ya,” he grinned and pumped Anakin’s hand up and down vigorously for a moment.

Anakin exited the car quickly, a bit too quickly. Something fell out of his pocket, a coin or something, chiming against the cement as it fell. It wasn’t important, probably.

He grabbed his bag out of the trunk and hurried up to the front door, eager to get home and curl up with Padmé for the night. In the absence of Obi-Wan, his beloved cat was the next best thing. Jinn preferred to sulk out on the couch if Anakin was home without Obi-Wan, otherwise he’d cuddle up with the dog, too.

Getting to the door presented another problem, however. A quick search of his pockets revealed that the key was missing. He groaned, remembering the metallic thing that had fallen out of his pocket a few minutes earlier. He really didn’t want to go searching for a key in the dark.

“Fuck it,” Anakin muttered, dropping his bag onto the ground and kneeling down, pulling out his ID. He had never exactly told Obi-Wan, or anyone else, about this particular skill he possessed, not wanting to get into the story of  _ why _ he knew how to jimmy a locked door open, but damn if it didn’t come in handy on occasion.

He was a little rusty, but working for a few moments got the door open.

“Like riding a bike,” he snorted to himself, grabbing his bag as he stood and kicking the door open with a sense of vindication. He was vaguely aware of Vos peeling out behind him as he kicked the door back shut and walked down the hall. “Jinn! Padmé!”

Nails scrabbled over the floor excitedly as Jinn woke up and came running, sniffing Anakin’s pants with great interest and jumping up in attempts to lick his face.

“Down –  _ down _ , boy,” he laughed tiredly. “Good to see you, too.” He reached out to rub behind the Irish Setter’s ears, calming him down significantly.

There was a quiet meow and a weight suddenly landed on his shoulder. “Hello, beautiful,” he smiled, reaching up to pet his cat. She purred, butting her head up into his hand.

Anakin shooed Jinn out of the way and walked into the living room, tossing his bag carelessly onto the table and heading for the bedroom. It was only just going on 8:30, but he needed to collapse into bed and forget about the day for a while.

He just wanted to sleep. He didn’t even fully undress, just kicked off his shoes and flopped onto the bed face first, smiling into the pillow as Padmé curled up on the small of his back. Now, all there was left to do was drift off into dreamland…

Anakin frowned and lifted his head as he heard the door open. Maybe he hadn’t shut it properly and the wind had blown it open? He should probably go close it, to keep any of the animals from getting out.

Padmé let out a disgruntled noise as Anakin sat up, dislodging her. “Sorry,” he muttered as he stood up and stretched.

The floor creaked as Anakin walked out of the bedroom, and in the dark he didn’t notice the bathroom door quickly closing.

The front door was halfway open. He gave it a light shove and watched it swing close, making sure it latched properly this time.

“And stay closed,” he admonished it.

Walking back down the hall found Jinn sitting expectantly in front of the bathroom. Anakin stopped, blinking at the odd sight. The dog liked to wait outside the bathroom if it was occupied, but there was no one else in the -

Anakin’s shoulders tensed. Someone else was in the house. Hiding in the bathroom.

Today was just really not a good day.

* * *

Ahsoka leaned against the bathroom door, holding her breath and hoping that the intruder hadn’t heard the soft click of the door closing. She hadn’t really come up with a plan before bolting into the house, and she was really regretting it now.

The intruder walked down the hall and closed the door, and Ahsoka heard the tick of Jinn’s nails on the floor as he trotted over to the bathroom door. The footsteps came back down the hall and stopped nearby and Ahsoka’s hand started trembling. Was Jinn giving her away? Why hadn’t he barked when the person broke into the house? What was going on and why did she feel like she was missing something?

“I know you’re in there.” The voice was rough and grouchy and it took all of Ahsoka’s willpower not to squeak in fear. What should she do? Bust out and tackle them, like she had with Rex? Try to hide? Where? The bathroom was tiny!

Before she could make up her mind, the decision was made for her in the form of a screaming demon, who was very unhappy to find a stranger in its territory.

* * *

“I know you’re in there,” Anakin called tiredly. He did  _ not _ want to deal with this right now.

It was silent for a moment, then a sound that could only be described as unholy screeching rang out, accompanied by loud yelling and the door bursting open.

A young and vaguely familiar woman practically fell into Anakin’s arms, scrambling to get as far away as possible from the source of the shrieking.

“What the ever-loving  _ fuck _ is that thing?!” She demanded, quickly moving around to put Anakin between herself and the bathroom.

“My cat,” he answered simply. It was a familiar reaction - every time someone met his little monster, there was usually yelling and fear involved.

“Your  _ cat _ ? Wait,  _ your _ cat? Are you Anakin?”

“Yes,” he blinked over his shoulder at her, memory rising to the surface of his mind. “Oh, you’re that student Ob- I mean, Ben, the student that Ben hired. To look after Jinn. Right?”

“Ahsoka Tano,” she nodded, squinting at him through the darkness. “I thought you were breaking in.”

“Came home early, lost my key. Where were you?”

“Over with the Fetts.” She waved a hand in their general direction. “They helped me when the power went out.”

Before Anakin could respond, the door opened again and a very familiar voice spoke.

“Ahsoka? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine!” she answered. “Sorry for scaring you, Cody!”

“Letting civilians do your job now, Fett?” Anakin called.

“Anakin!” The officer strode down the hall quickly. “Damnit, man, why didn’t you tell us you were coming back?”

“I figured you’d be busy helping the emergency crews,” he shrugged before Cody pulled him into a tight hug. “Ow, ribs,  _ ribs _ , Cody!”

He got an extra squeeze for his trouble before Cody stepped back. “You’re an ass, you know that?”

“So you keep telling me.”

“Hey, sorry, can we go back to the screaming cat demon?” Ahsoka cut in, glancing back warily at the bathroom.

Cody snickered a little as he pulled out his phone to text Rex the all-clear. Anakin snorted and walked into the bathroom fearlessly.

Ahsoka watched with wide eyes as he checked a few different places before finally emerging from behind the shower curtain with a large, grey, cat-shaped object in his arms.

“This is Palpatine,” Anakin introduced with sleepy cheerfulness. “He’s an asshole and I love him.”

“No one can figure out why,” Cody added.

Palpatine glared at Ahsoka with yellow eyes that seemed to just be full of malice for the human race in general and her in particular. She backed up a step and nodded. “Hi.”

The cat hissed and she backed up another step.

“Don’t take it personally, he doesn’t like anyone except for Anakin and the other cat,” Cody told her.

“I’m just,” she sighed, “I’m just gonna go. Nice to meet you, Anakin.”

“You, too.”

Ahsoka walked out, and Cody and Anakin exchanged a look.

“I assume there’s a reason you’re back so early?”

“Yep.”

“I also assume that you’ll be willing to tell it over omelets in the morning?”

“Yep.”

“Great. See you tomorrow.”

Cody walked out as well, leaving Anakin standing in the middle of the room with a grouchy cat and a headache.

* * *

Ahsoka got all the way back to her apartment before she remembered that she had left some clothes over at Anakin and Ben’s house. She sighed and decided to go back tomorrow.

It wasn’t until she was settling down on the couch, though, that she realized something very important.

**TO: Barriss Offee, 9:07 PM** **  
** _ HOLY SHIT SKYWALKER IS BEN’S ROOMMATE _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And done! Sorry this took so long, school got busy!
> 
> Don't worry about this story being over - I promise that I'm not abandoning this 'verse just yet! I'll be back soon with the next story, probably focusing more on Obikin this time.


End file.
